1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a confection composition. More particularly, it relates to a gasified candy confection prepared with a predetermined geometry. This invention especially relates to gasified candy in tablet form.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Gasified candy is a hard candy containing gas, such as carbon dioxide, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,012,893 of Kremzner and Mitchell, U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,909 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,910 of Kirkpatrick and U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,457 of Hegadorn which are incorporated herein by reference. Such a candy is made by the process which comprises melting crystalline sugar, contacting such sugar with gas at a pressure of 50 to 1,000 psig for a time sufficient to permit incorporation in said sugar of 0.5 to 15 cm.sup.3 of gas per gram of sugar, maintaining the temperature of said sugar during said adsorption above the solidifcation temperature of the melted sugar, and cooling said sugar under pressure to produce a solid amorphous sugar containing the gas. Upon the release of the pressure, the solid gasified candy fractures into granules of assorted sizes.
The resultant product contains 1% to 4% water and most typically 2% to 3% water by weight of the total composition. (All figures expressed herein as a percentage are in terms of weight percent, unless specifically expressed to the contrary.) Lower levels of moisture are not practicably obtainable because the additional heat necessary to drive off the water causes the candy melt to caramelize or burn, resulting in an off-flavor, undesirable product. High moisture levels result in a soft, sticky matrix which rapidly liberates the entrapped gas and is thus not storage stable.
The gasified candy, when placed in the mouth, produces an entertaining but short-lived popping sensation. As the candy is wetted in the mouth the candy melts and the gas escapes. The tingling effect in the mouth is sensational but short.
When the solidified gasified candy is fractured by the release of pressure from the preparation vessel, the resultant granulated pieces are irregular, randomed-sized pieces having the appearance of pieces of broken glass or what might be termed sharp-faced pieces of gravel. The granulated pieces are sieved to provide the gasified candy in a range of particle sizes.
The gas is contained within the gasified candy is a series of bubbles which, when prepared by the methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,012,893, 3,985,909, 3,985,910 and 4,001,457, have a size ranging from 3 to 1000 microns, although most of the bubbles have a diameter of between 60 and 80 microns. It is the release of the gas from these bubbles which produces the popping sensation when the gasified candy is permitted to melt in the mouth.
Active materials in particulate form may be shaped into tablets by one of several general methods--compression of dry particulate material or molding of a moist material. Compression is the most frequently employed and is subdivided into three methods, i.e., dry granulation, wet granulation and direct compression. The latter is preferred since it employs the fewest operating steps and avoids exposure to water which would adversely effect many of the active materials. However, direct compression tableting has limited use because many active materials have poor compaction properties and cannot be directly compressed alone in dry form to produce a coherent mass. Therefore, most dry materials require the use of a binding agent in order to form a useful tablet.
Tablets must be capable of disintegrating at a desired rate, usually in a moist environment, to release the active ingredient for its intended purpose. In addition, the tablet must possess a certain hardness but must not be excessively friable. These properties are often interrelated so that tablet hardness is often directly proportional to tablet friability. Dusting and crumbling of a tablet are undesirable as are breaking and chipping.
Fortunately, tableting ingredients have been developed to permit tableting of dry materials having poor compaction properties to produce tablets of desired hardness, friability and disintegration. Tablet formulations thus may include a binding or compaction agent as well as, disintegrants, flavorants, coloring agents, diluents, lubricants and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,169 of Broeg et al. relates to a method of preparing a multicomponent direct compression vehicle for the manufacture of tablets. The vehicles disclosed have sugar as the predominant component and are prepared by forming a dry mixture of all tablet ingredients, except the active ingredient, compacting the mixture into a compact, nonfriable sheet and breaking up the sheet to form particles of the multicomponent vehicle. The disclosed method is specifically concerned with the compaction aids which form a portion of the tableting vehicle. Included in an extensive list of useful compaction aids are such materials as sorbitol, lactose, starch, hydrolyzed polysaccharide derivatives, certain sugar agglomerates and a free-flowing particulate composition. The sugar agglomerates are prepared by spraying particulate solid sugar with an aqueous solution of a polyhydroxy binder, such as glycerol, mannitol or a sugar, agitating the mixture to form agglomerates of a general spherical shape and finally drying the coated sugar agglomerates. The free-flowing particulate composition is an inert edible diluent dispersed in a matrix of a hydrophilic hydratable high polymer. Illustrative diluents include mono and disaccharides while the hydratable polymer may be starch, agar, dextrin, cereal flour, and the like. The diluent and the polymer are admixed with sufficient water to hydrate the polymer and the resultant dispersion is dried, preferably by drum drying, producing flakes of the particulate composition. The direct compression vehicle is blended with an active material and a lubricant, if necessary, and compressed to form a tablet. The patentees describe an active material as any material intended for ingestion having a beneficial or desirable effect on the user including such things as therapeutic materials (anesthetics, antiobiotics, vitamins, aspirin, etc.), foodstuffs (cocoa, dried oats, fruit flakes, etc), edible dyes and other food additives. The use of the direct compression vehicle in a tableted confection is neither specifically taught nor indirectly suggested.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,622,677 of Short et al. relates to a binder-disintegrant ingredient for a directly compressed tablet. The binder-disintegrant is a starch material derived from compacted corn starch by subjecting starch raw material to pressure in the presence of water to effect distortion and fracture of the granules and to produce adhesion between the particles of the resultant mass. The starch raw materials are compacted in the presence of water, and then ground and classified into varying particle size fractions. Typically, the moisture content of this dual function compacted starch powder is in the range of 9 to 16 percent.
It is an object of this invention to provide a gasified candy in uniformly shaped pieces.
It is another object of this invention to prepare gasified candy in a tablet form by a direct compression process.
It is a further object of this invention to prepare a gasified candy confection which produces a mouth-feel sensation more prolonged than is obtained with the gasified candy produced heretofore.